who is very passionate about the choice that our country faces. >> the president can change his style, he can change his tactics, he can't change his cord. >> and new polls show the candidates are neck and neck. remembering arlen specter. the former pennsylvania senator dies at age 82. we take a look at his incredible life. and a death-defying fall. daredevil felix baumgartner breaks the sound barrier as he plunges 24 miles to the ground, and lives. the incredible feat coming up. it's monday, october 15th, and "starting point" begins right now. good morning, welcome everybody. watching "starting point." we have a pocked show this morning. going to be talking with dare devil nik wallenda. also former u.s. congressman joe sestak will join us. kamau bell is our guest and former new york city mayor rudy

giuliani will be joining us this morning. "starting point" is, of course, the highly anticipated rematch, the second presidential debate just a day away. the race is at tight as it gets. two brand-new polls to talk about this morning. first from "the washington post"/abc news. president has a slim three-point lead among likely voters. well within the margin of error. even closer in a politico/george washington university poll this morning, the president's lead among likely voters is just one percent which makes it a statistical dead heat. battleground states now. the poll has mitt romney ahead of the president by two points, essentially tied. while the abc/"washington post" poll shows the president with a five-point lead in the battleground states. both campaigns looking forward to the debate tomorrow night. tackling president obama's lucklaster performance, as well. listen. >> he knew when he walked up that stage, and he also knew as he's watched the tape of that debate that he's got to be more energetic. i think you'll see somebody who's very passionate about the

choice that our country faces. and putting that choice in front of voters. >> this is a big choice election, and the fact is what we saw is, even if he changes his style, and whatever political tactics the president settles on as being in his best interest for this debate, he can't change his record and he can't change his policies. >> coming up in just a few minutes we're going to dig into the poll numbers. talk about what's at stake tomorrow night with former mccain 2008 presidential campaign adviser mark mckinnon will be our guest. first john berman has the update on other stories making news. >> good morning. >> happy monday. >> happy monday. the 14-year-old pakistani girl shot in the head by the taliban is on her way to britain for treatment. malala jaw saf zi was airlifted out of pakistan overnight. her flight is expected to touchdown this morning. she'll be taken to queen elizabeth hospital in birmingham for treatment. the taliban, you'll remember, tried to murder her last week because malala is an outspoken promoter of education for

pakistani girls. something the taliban does not believe in. we're going to talk to reza sal lay in islamabad. he's been following the story from the very beginning. he had an amazing interview with malala last year. former pennsylvania senator arlen specter is being remembered for long political service. he died at the age of 82 after a long battle with cancer. he spent 30 years in the senate, most as a moderate republican until switching to the democratic party in 2009. in a statement, president obama said quote from his days stamping out corruption as a prosecutor in philadelphia, to his three decades of service in the senate, arlen was fiercely independent, never putting party or ideology ahead of the people he was chosen to serve. pretrial hearings are under way in italy for the captain of the costa concardia. the cruise ship ran aground in january killing 30 people. the canton faces manslaughter charges. he is also accused of abandoning ship. at one point the italian coast guard ordered him to get back on

board. black box data from the ship's bridge is expected to be revealed for the first time during this week's hearings. the detroit tigers are feeling pretty good about their world series chances. they are halfway there after beating the yankees 3-0 in the bronx to go 2-0 in the american league championship series. game three is tomorrow night in detroit. with the tigers ace justin verlander on the mound. the st. louis cardinals jumped on top with a 6-4 win in game one of tat series against the giants. game two is tonight in san francisco. the cardinals are white hot right now. meanwhile, while the world awaits tomorrow night's second presidential debate, "saturday night live" got in the last laugh on the biden ryan face-off. >> you think you're talking to me because you do the p-90x workout? let me tell you something, buddy. there's jim strong and there's old man strong, okay? you want to know my workout? when the amtrak breaks down at my morning commute, i strip down to my tighty whities, i push

that [ bleep ] all the way to washington. >> almost as good as the real debate. almost as funny. >> all right, john, thank you. back to our top story this morning. round two of the presidential debates. we showed you two polls indicating the race is very much a topic at this point. this time around even the president's own campaign aides are admitting he needs a much stronger showing against mitt romney. let's get to mark mckinnon, the former mccain 2008 presidential campaign adviser, contributor for the daily beast as well, co-founder -- your intro is getting longer and longer every single time we have you on the show. nice to see you mark. so we've heard from -- >> thanks, soledad. >> we've heard from aides that the president will be more energetic and more passionate. does that mean to you he's going to come out swinging in this debate? >> well, you know, the bar is really low for the president now, given the first performance. i think all he has to do is have a couple cups of coffee and show

up with a smile and look like he wants to be there and that will be a win. i think the thing he has to be careful about is that he's not overcoached to be overenergetic. you remember in the gore/bush debates, he had the one that was really too hot and then too cold. so, the caution that i would recommend for the president that he not be too overheated, and that's where the caution lies. >> all right so then what is the right path to take if you were advising the president as you have done for john mccain back in 2008. what would your advice be? what does the middle ground look like? >> well, it's a format that suits the president. it's a town hall so there are going to be real people involved, asking questions that aren't typical from a moderator, that can be a little offbeat. which i think is good for the president. he just has to be the happy warrior. he has to look like he wants to be there. he has to engage. he has to be empathetic with the audience which i think is a natural instinct for him. that's a little tougher for mitt romney. so the challenge for romney is going to be he's gotten very good at the formal debates. can he step up his game in an informal setting where he can

engage and be empathetic with the audience. >> back on september 19th, my birthday by the way, you wrote this in the daily beast, you were talking, you wrote this, the debates may be mitt romney's last chance to dig out. further deterioration in attitudes about security in the middle east and a good first debate could prove critical and shift the lfr lost narrative for romney to it's still a race. back then i'll remind folks it was mitt romney who was six points behind in wisconsin, and four points behind in virginia, in colorado it was kind of neck and neck. but, but that's really different than what we're seeing right now. do you ee essentially that what you wrote back then has pretty much come true? >> well, you know, i said that he dug a pretty deep hole but we could still see his shovel. and the reason i said that is because i remember in 2000, when the bush campaign was down three to five points before the debates, and yet the debates offered an opportunity for us to scrape our way back up, and i think what's happening now is the debates are more important than ever, because voters have

become so cynical about what they see in advertising, and all the white noise out there, so the debates i think create an authentic opportunity for voters to really see the candidates unscripted. you know, out of the coaching. on their own. which i think is -- has become something that's really important for voters to see and hence that's why we're seeing the large movement in numbers. so tomorrow night is more important than ever. >> the topic of the tax cuts, was a focus in those vp debate. martha rad zat pushed very hard on that. when ed gillespie was on fox news on sunday, chris wallace was pushing him as well on that. i want to play a little bit of what he said to chris wallace. >> because there are a lot of questions from independent people, how do you pay for it, and he refused to say how you're going to pay for it. >> what we have said is that we're going to pay for it with these by eliminating deductions. six different studies have said this is -- >> those are very questionable. some of them are blogs.

some of them are from the adi, which is an independent group. >> these are very credible sources. >> have a problem do you think that that topic's going to be if there are no specific answers, and if the campaign continues to go with six credible sources, which they said a lot, and you know, if, if, if fox news is saying listen, i think that's going to be a challenge for them. >> actually i think it's an opportunity. i think ryan missed a huge opportunity because the romney campaign rolled out about two weeks ago, what i think is a terrific idea on this, which is the notion of capping the basket of deductions so that -- so that you as a -- as i -- as a citizen get to decide which deductions you're going to take. in other words you get like a 17% capped number about what deductions you can take. so you decide whether or not it's charitable or home mortgage or some combination of both. but i think that's a terrific idea. and i don't understand why paul ryan didn't mention that, or even ed mention it on sunday. because i think that's actually a very specific idea, and you

say if that doesn't cover the number, then you -- then you increase the number. or lower the number. so i think that's a very specific idea that addresses how we're going to pay for it. >> forgive me. you've lost me. when you say that doesn't cover the number, what do you mean? what number? >> so let's say it's 17% and that doesn't pay for the tax cuts. then you lower -- then you lower the -- the deduction number to 14%. so you just -- in other words, the number is movable to make sure that you cover the cost. >> right. and so -- >> or you raise it. >> but ultimately then there are some people who are not going to get certain deductions right? because you could lower that number in theory enough that your homeowners deduction or child care credit deduction becomes irrelevant, right? i mean isn't that essentially the problem that's in the details that are missing in this? >> well, like i said, i think that it's a -- it's -- it's a tough choice that people will have to make. but romney's laid it out. said you've got to make a choice

about which deduction you're going to take and we're going to cap it at a certain level. and whatever that level is is going to pay for whatever the tax cut is that's recommended. and if it doesn't cover it, then you either lower or raise the deduction or you lower or raise the tax cut. i think that makes great sense. >> it will be interesting to see if that's laid out in tomorrow's debate. of course mark mckinnon, thank you as always. nice to see you. we appreciate it. and candy crowley from cnn is going to be moderating that presidential town hall debate live tomorrow night. our special coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. and cnn.com. still ahead this morning on "starting point," a death defying record breaking what more superlatives could i throw into this, a jump, a new video showing incredible feat with angle that is pretty awesome. we'll tell you what felix baumgartner felt like during the dive. fellow daredevil nik wallenda is going to walk us through all those sensations coming up next. and a ball hits -- a ball comes

hurtling to an nfl reporter while he's live on the air. ouch. his reaction, pretty cool. we're going to talk about that. >> and both of those pictures are pretty much how i feel about the stock market these days. we're watching stocks, they're up, futures up a little bit this morning. new housing information, including when we can see home prices back at peak levels. details next. you're watching "starting point." you've been busy for a dead man. after you jumped ship in bangkok, i thought i'd lost you. surfing is my life now. but who's going to .... tell the world that priceline has even faster, easier ways to save you money. . . on hotels, flights & cars? you still have it. i'll always have it. so this is it? we'll see where the waves take me.

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welcome back to "starting point." you've heard me say for months now it looks like we're turning a corner in housing. the reason, rebounding home prices in construction declines in foreclosures. a recent report from barclays capital forecast home prices which fell by more than a third after the housing bubble burst in 2007 could be back to peak

levels as soon as 2015. prices could rise 5% or more annually. one of the more bullish of the housing reports. we'll look at more housing data this week. stock futures up this morning after a tough week. the dow coming off the worst week in more than four months. still up about 7% this year. helped by monetary stimulus from the federal reserve. and speaking of the fed, the fed chief ben bernanke, defending the fed against international critics who say fed policies are hindering economic growth in developing countries. critics say the fed is trying to stimulate the economy by ingesting money into it which is distorting currency markets and the flow of capital among the harshest critics brazil and china. the fed chief himself soledad saying don't undervalue your currency. that only makes things worse. >> we're going to talk a little later this morning about all of this and see exactly what, he didn't name china. he didn't name brazil. and bernanke was he didn't name russia but clearly what he was talking about. >> most sharply worded i've

heard him on this in some time. it was one of the boldest stunts of a generation. now the scientist from nasa, the european space agency countless other groups are studying all the data from felix baumgartner's death-defying leap from the edge of space. here's the 43-year-old austrian daredevil speaking right before he took the plunge. >> sometimes you have to get up really high to see how small you are. i'm going home now. >> oh. that's awesome. you're seeing the same view that he saw as he was falling, and despite those humble words that kicked off the jump, the jump was anything but small. shattered 52-year-old records for the highest free-fall. makes him the first human being to ever break the sound barrier outside of an aircraft. amazingly, he ended up landing on his feet in an absolute perfect landing.

he says this will be his last jump as a professional risk taker. he hopes to mentor the next generation of daredevils. i don't believe him on that. with us this morning another world renowned stuntman, veteran tight rope walker nik wallenda. nice to have you back with us. you were watching this at the airport. >> i was, that's right. >> so describe for me the most terrifying moment for you. >> you know, i was sitting in that seat with him and i know those feelings leading up to an event like this and the amount of emotion and anxiety that goes into it. i felt for him for the last week as it kept becoming postponed longer and longer. because there's so much adrenaline in your body leading up to these events. so much anticipation and excitement leading up to it that it's so physically and emotionally draining, it's more than people would imagine. and the fact that it kept getting postponed mentally is just extremely draining. so i really felt for him. and then to finally be there had to be extremely exciting. but of course there's a lot of nerves involved. you don't know the outcome. but to see the event was just

absolutely amazing. i was glad that i was able to catch it. i was supposed to be on a flight and it got delayed. who could ask for anything better. i wanted to watch it live. it was absolutely amazing, astonishing. what a great move. >> there are lots of things that didn't go completely well. the balloon went higher than they thought it was supposed to go. there was a spin. we're showing pictures of when he was spinning in that free-fall. his mask had fogged up as they were going up in the balloon so he was thinking about doing the jump completely blind. as a daredevil yourself, do you sort of plan for these specific problems, or is it just, at some point you have to kind of wing it? >> you know there is a little bit of winging it. you can only trust science and technology to take you so far. at that point they didn't know what to expect. there are a lot of unknowns obviously. and you kind of just have to wing it. that's where that adrenaline and all that training really and experience kicks in. he'd done over 2500 jumps leading up to that. his military background helped him a lot, i'm sure. and as you saw, as soon as he hit the right altitude he did

regain control. all that comes with experience. >> he says he's done. that this is his last stunt ever. he's going to focus on the next generation. do you believe him? i don't believe him. but you know, i'm not a daredevil. >> i was sad to hear that. i read that yesterday, too. it kind of made me sad like you're done? you just did an amazing feat. you got to do something bigger, bolder. but i respect that, as well. that he wants to spend time with his family and i respect that very much. i'm not one to give up, not at my age anyways. but i'm only 33 so i plan on going for at least another 15 to 20 more years. >> okay good. we're glad to hear it. i don't believe him. nik wallenda, nice to have you with us this morning. thanks for being with us. >> thanks so much. >> you bet. still ahead this morning on "starting point," it's called mix it up day. mix it up at lunch day. it's intended to promote tolerance. but nearly 200 schools are backing out of mix it up day. we'll tell you why. our get real starting point team headed in to talk about that. we're back in just a moment. hi, guys. good morning. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth.

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welcome back, everyone. a quick look at some top stories. contaminated pain injections have sickened some 203 people. 15 have died of that fungal meningitis outbreak. 14 states now reporting meningitis cases. tennessee, michigan and virginia the hardest-hit so far. the shuttle "endeavour" has reached its final destination. "endeavour" arrived yesterday at the california science center. it took more than two days to tow "endeavour" from los angeles international airport over to the science center. a 12-mile journey. it was moving at a whopping 2 miles per hour. mitt romney ruffled feathers when he mentioned big bird by name during the first presidential debate saying he wants to cut federal funding for pbs. now some sesame street fans are

fighting back with plans for a million muppet march. that's november 3rd at the national mall in washington. i don't know if muppets are likely voters. >> how does he make that happen? >> so many questions. >> i don't think they're sock puppet muppets is what they're talking about. >> 74. wonder if that's going to come off. thank you, john. christa freeland is with us, a digital editor at thompson reuters. and the author of the new global superrich and the fall of everyone else. they're like, turn it around. you owe her $5. also joining us this morning, margaret hooper whose whisper you heard. former employee of the bush administration. richard sock rid des is with us, as well. writer at new yorker dotcom. nice to have you all with us. our get real.

this is really interesting controversy surrounding school program designed to combat bullying. it's called mix it up at lunch day. october 30th is the date. it encourages kids to sit with classmates that they normally wouldn't talk to. started 11 years ago by the southern poverty law center. this year the program is being targeted by the american family association, conservative evangelical group. the group says the project is this, a quote nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools. the fplc says it's about breaking up cliques and having kids talk to somebody they normally wouldn't talk to. see, mix it up. 200 schools have withdrawn this year so far from the project after the american family association sent out an e-mail. but it's not exactly clear why they've withdrawn. >> we were talking about it. there must be a reason, right? there must be a reason. you have a great idea. mix it up day, you're in the cafeteria.

you want to sit by people -- you don't want to encourage bullying. we sit by people we don't agree with necessarily. so why would they try to say it's promoting homosexuality? as it turns out that the flpc has decided that the american family group is a hate group and they put it on a list, so they clearly can't stand each other, these two groups. >> they should mix it up. >> sit down at the table. >> so now the important thing here, right, is that bullying in school is a big problem. most kids who are bullied in school are not gay. they are just targeted because they're different. and they're often targeted with anti-gay remarks but that's just because it's the nastiest thing kids can say about other kids, or so they think. so this program is really important and it has nothing to do with whether you're gay or straight or you know it is just promoting tolerance. >> it's basics. >> what we do here every day. promote tolerance and understanding. >> understanding.

although i don't understand you most of the time. >> and you know, bullying -- bullying for kids, as a mother, that's the most scary thing if your kid comes home and says other kids were mean to them. and it does happen because you really do have to hold yourself back from going in and finding that child. >> from being a bully yourself. >> i agree. they are wrong. american family association, and obviously the southern poverty law center should get together, clear the air, mix it up together and then go ahead and mix it up in the schools. still ahead on "starting point" this morning. new developments for the 14-year-old pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the taliban. could help keep her safe. cnn's reza saleh has been following the story from the beginning. he's going to join us from is m islamabad next. plus a rookie reporter, dangerous. the nfl sideline job can be. we're back in a moment. wanna see me get some great deals?

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good morning, welcome back. you're watching "starting point." we begin with john berman who's got an update on the day's top stories. >> this story has shocked people around the world. 14-year-old pakistani girl shot in the head by the taliban. as we speak malala yousafzai is being flown to a hospital in england for treatment. the taliban tried to kill her because she publicly defied them. malala is an outspoken promoter for education for girls in pakistan and pakistanis, many of them, outraged by the attack and are calling for a crackdown on the taliban.

reza is in pakistan with more on the story. what's the latest? >> yeah, john. this move came suddenly this morning. i don't think too many people expected it. but indeed malala yousafzai being airlifted to england at this hour. we're not quite sure exactly what facility she's going to. but we do know it's in birmingham, and we do know that she left around 9:00 a.m. this morning. about 7 1/2 hours ago. she did make a stop in abu dhabi. there pakistan's ambassador to the uae said he briefly saw her. he described her as unconscious. this is about a nine, eleven-hour trip with a stopover in abu dhabi. my guess is she'll be touching down in the uk in the next two to four hours. the military here had been overseeing her medical care. and they said this was a window of opportunity to get her to a specialized facility. mom, dad, little brother, they're with her, according to

family members. in fact, here in pakistan, a lot of people still praying for her. >> all right reza sayah in pakistan this morning. we do hope this is a positive development in her treatment. thank you very much. the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya has both campaigns on the attack. disagreements on the level of security, and who is responsible. on sunday's "state of the union" with candy crowley. >> vice president biden directly contradicted the sworn testimony of the state department, in the debate the other night. >> the administration is responsible. countries that provide us consulates and missions are responsible, also, for keeping us -- keeping those people safe and secure. and an investigation is what the president and the secretary of state have asked for, so that we can understand directly all the things that happened. >> the house has already held a hearing on the attack. the senate also planning an investigation. the pentagon has launched an investigation into a collision at sea between a nuclear submarine and another navy vessel. the submarine "montpelier" and

the cruiser "san jacinto" came into contact saturday morning during a training exercise off the east coast. no one was hurt but no word yet on what caused this crash. this just in this morning the nobel prize in economics has been rewarded -- awarded to albert e. roth of harvard university and lloyd schaaply of ucla. margaret knows who these people are. maybe she can tell us a little bit. >> no, i don't. >> we'll look into that and find out what they did. they just won a big prize. a record setting night for aaron rodgers. he threw a career high six touchdown passes last night as green bay handed the houston texans their first loss of the season 42-24. only one team left, the atlanta falcons. the falcons are now a perfect 6-0. the only undid you feeted team. talk about having a nose for the football. check out nfl network reporter ian rapport, a new reporter

doing a live sideline report this weekend. you can say he took one for the team. >> all of a sudden there really have been questions about this defense which is ranked 21st. i had an interesting talk with offensive coordinator -- with -- did you guys just see that football? >> i saw it. >> anyway. anyway. >> that's live tv, folks. keeps right on going. hit by a football in the face and delivers the rest of the report. we're on your side, sir. well done. >> that was well done. all right, john, thank you. former senator arlen specter is going to be laid to rest tomorrow. he died yesterday from non-hodgkin's lymphoma which is cancer of the white blood cells. he was 82 years old. specter was known as a true political wild card. he rose to prominence in the mid 1960s when he got involved in the warren commission. investigating the assassination of president kennedy. 2009 he famously switched from the republican party to the democratic party. admiral joe sestak was the highest ranking military

official ever elected to the u.s. congress. he served as a member of the u.s. house of representatives for two terms, then defeated arlen specter in specter's last primary race for senate. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us. >> thanks for having me. >> you and arlen specter were rivals, and sometimes very, very tough rivals. what was he like as a competitor, and as a friend that he eventually became? >> he was great. i -- i thought i was a hard worker. but nobody outworks arlen specter. somebody came into the office one day, and we're getting in at 6:00 a.m. and going home after midnight, he says are you really enjoying this? i remember telling him that, boy, if you define enjoyment like john f. kennedy once did, applying all your faculties towards excellence, yes, i do. because that's what arlen specter makes me do. reach beyond my grasp. i love being the very best pennsylvania's ever produced. i really did. >> you know, admiral, it's so interesting, because he had a lot of tough challenges all during his life. but he really did not let them

deter him from the things that he thought were important. >> you know, you're absolutely right. he was a fighter. in his own personal life, and out here on the campaign. but he was never deterred from doing what his legacy really is. and in my mind, it's the fierce advocacy for the national institute of health that affected so many families across america, including mine. when my 4-year-old daughter, when i was in the military, was struck with malignant brain cancer, it was an nih study of chemotherapy with some stem cell effort in it that hadn't even been approved for the entire population yet that she underwent. she's now 11 years old going on 22 because of arlen specter. and if any public servant can have the legacy that he had about fighting but then doing something with your seat in the senate, boy he has it. there aren't going to be many like him. but i sure hope they look towards him as a pragmatist, a centrist, somebody who was

willing to do a compromise, but a principled compromise, stand up to his own party, to do what was needed -- >> you know, he had a very -- he was a funny guy. and he had -- and he loved comedy, and he loved stand-up. and i want to play a little chunk of what he said about ted kennedy. let's play that. >> the situation with ted kennedy, i was in the whirlpool, the hot tub, and in comes kennedy, 2 5 pounds, in his birthday suit, and he plops into the -- he plops into the hot tub, and you know the old theory about a rising tide lifts all -- my head -- my head hit the ceiling. >> you know, every year philadelphia there's a comedy routine done by all the politicians. and you know, it goes for a couple hours. but once they knew the time arlen specter would show up, everybody came and packed the

house. but i'll tell you something else, just before i -- >> arlen specter america came to know? >> no. you know, but they knew him as a fighter. and they knew him as an independent. i just, for example, was in the makeup here at cnn before i came on and the makeup artist who i was talking with, he said let me tell you about arlen. he would never put on makeup. he was who he was. and that, in my mind, is why pennsylvania's going to remember this standard that he has set. stood up to his party when he felt he needed to, in the economic stimulus bill. whether he agreed or disagreed with it because he felt it was needed for america. fierce independence. >> admiral joe sestak joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir. >> great to be with you. >> i appreciate it. so what separates the super rich from the -- the 1% of the 1%? right that's the super rich from everybody else who is not so super rich. chrysta's written a new book about exactly that topic. the rise of the wealthiest class in the world. we're going to talk about that

straight ahead.

welcome back, everybody. election is about three weeks away. if mitt romney wins, he will easily be the wealthiest president ever elected. his estimated personal wealth is more than 190 million. he falls squarely into the top 0.1% of the world's top earners. it's a small but hugely influential group that chrystia freeland has been writing about in her new book -- >> my book! >> over here! >> i went to grab my book. it's called "the rise of the new global super rich and the fall of everyone else." she writes the rise of the 1% of the global phenomenon and in a

globalized economy, the most international law both on how they live their lives and earn their fortunes. you're not writing specifically about mitt romney but it is this class of folks who have risen to the very tippy top. i thought it's interesting that you say that those super rich have more in common with each other than they have with whoever their compatriots are in the -- >> wow. >> scared me. >> compatriots. and they also have in common with the middle class in some ways. because what you say is they've built them? >> they actually have -- they're not inherited wealth. many of them have become super rich through their own labors and their own effort. and so -- >> yes, both of these things are true. i mean, on sort of the internationalization of this group and how they do increasingly have more in common with each other than with the middle class back home, you know, i think that this is a function of voter capital. you know increasingly these guys do business around the world. they are on planes, all the time. and they tend to meet each other. you can be in the four seasons

restaurant in manhattan, and you know, be having lunch with an english guy and he'll shout across the room to an american, hey, steve, the last time i saw you was six weeks ago in the four seasons in shanghai. that's how they live their lives. and it's a big difference. i speak in the book, i spoke to paul volcker about this. and he said to me, you know, it's such a different world from the one that i grew up in. and the one that existed when i was the head of the fed. he said these guys speaking about american ceos. they don't think of themselves as american anymore. >> what's the philosophy? walk us through some of the philosophies of the superrich? >> i don't want to make clear, this is a really important political and social phenomenon. but i don't think these people are bad. if you are learning an international -- >> -- actually. >> right. if you're running an international corporation it's not unpatriotic of you to think in global terms. you have to do it. but it does mean you clash, i

think, with the american middle class. and we see this in the election campaign, where you have sort of the paradigm of, are they the job creators, versus the democrats saying, actually, you know, bain capital did fantastically for bain but sometimes that was at the cost of laying off american workers. you had david rubenstein recently saying, you know, i'm a great private equity guy. none of my investors have ever said to me, are you going to create jobs for workers. and that, to me, is sort of the central narrative, and one of the big fights that's happening in america today. >> interesting. all right, thank you. everyone it's called "plutocrats" if i had my book anywhere near me. the rise of the super rich and the fall of everybody else. we appreciate that. still ahead on "starting point," who are the big winners in the debates leading up to election day? "snl" of course. listen. >> a bunch of malarkey? >> yes. >> what does that mean? >> it's irish. >> no, no, no, irish is i come over there and smack that dumb look off your face.

>> let's talk about that. also comedian host of fx's totally biased talks political satire with us. we're back in a moment. ♪ hi dad. many years from now, when the subaru is theirs... hey. you missed a spot. ...i'll look back on this day and laugh. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." a quick check of the weather with meteorologist rob marciano. >> we start you off with the tropics. if you're traveling to the bahamas or northern caribbean, tropical storm rafael. some of the training storms to the east of there still affecting some of the islands. it will probably become a hurricane here today or tomorrow. and then skirt past bermuda, probably miss bermuda. but may be a little bit stormy there. also if you're traveling to the beaches late season, maybe some rip currents and some big waves along the east coast. this front will push into some

pretty tropical air across the easte eastern seaboard right now. temperatures lower 60s. showers and thunderstorms, some could be severe across the carolinas. middle of the country looking good. so cal looki ining toasty with a ana winds. 62, seattle. 60, chicago. 63 expected in new york. >> appreciate you watching that storm for us. second presidential debate just a day away. a chance for the american people to hear their candidates discuss the issues. of course, more material for s & l to skewer the candidates. >> he said by the end of his first term he would cut the deficit in half. yet he still has not put a single credible plan on the table on how to deal with the debt crisis. >> i'm sorry, martha, with all due respect this is a munch of malarkey. >> a bunch of malarkey? what does that mean? >> it's irish.

>> no, no, no. irish is i come over there and smack that dumb look off your face. >> the host of fx's "totally biased." a weekly program about news related topics. nice to have you with us. what makes great political comedy and satires? is it just the big, giant characters? is it the facial ticks joe biden had during the debate? what is it? >> the same thing that makes every great story. you need big personalities in awkward situations. i think that's what you get when you get a political race. big personalities in awkward situations trying to connect to people or debates which are totally awkward. mix that together, you get gold like joe biden last week. >> your show is called "totally biased." is it possible to have bipartisan political humor or do we laugh at the jokes that make fun of the guys we don't agree with? >> i'm a lefty. i thought that joe biden thing was awesome. it's great to make fun of joe biden. joe biden is perfect. he has two speeds. zero and 1,000. i think that's what great for

political comedy. when you get to see joe biden mix it up. >> what's funny now about mitt romney and barack obama? what are the funniest things about them. >> mitt romney, he's in this position where basically they're telling him to act like a human. it's great to see him be in this position where he's trying to connect with the everyday person. you guys were talking about the super rich. he really doesn't see everyday people probably that often. it's great to see him out there mixing it up with everyday people trying to act human. it's great to see barack have to choose which barack he wants to be. >> meaning what? >> barack's like a swiss army knife. there's rock star barack. there's professor barack. there's singing barack. there's sexy barack. there's a lot of different baracks you can choose from. at the debate last week he picked annoyed barack. >> didn't work out so well for him, did it? >> it seemed as he -- >> he brought the wrong tool. >> he's funny. >> i have my moments. hopefully thursdays on fx at

11:30. >> what's funny about john berman? >> you're asking too much. >> i have a serious question. not so serious. when a president came on to the national scene before he was president and then when he was elected president, it seems like there was difficulty for the community to really nail it and get a great impersonation of it. >> was it because he was the first black guy? nobody wanted to make fun of the black person. >> it was easy for me. maybe that's because i'm a black guy. i felt a lot of people hadn't seen that guy on the seat. wait a minute. when you say it like that. a lot of guy hadn't seen that guy on the scene before. i was like, that's my guy. >> how did you make fun of him? what's the most sort of humor point about the president. >> the thing i said. the fact i think he's one of the -- automatically when he was a black senator from illinois he was already in the top 100 black guys of all time. then he becomes the president. he's in this weird position of having to be perfect while at

the same time having to run against romney. it's just this funny disconnect. i could see him in the debates last week, like, who invited this dude? >> something a lot of people say about the president is that part of the reason that he comes across as so cool and aloof is because he's black and he's very conscious of not coming across as angry black man. do you think that's true? if it is true, is he right to be worried about that? >> yes. black people are especially cool. i agree with that part of your point. yes. i think that's true. if he gets angry, he's so angry, the angry black guy. like i said, he has the swiss army knife in the back pocket. doesn't know which one to go with. >> we'll see which one he comes with in the debate tomorrow night. 11:30 thursdays on fx. still ahead on "starting point," doing the countdown to obama/romney take two. we'll be joined by a man who knows what it's like to debate mitt romney. former new york major rudy

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welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning, ready for the rematch. mitt romney, president obama pair for their long island debate. i like to call it the strong island debate as the campaign turns up the heat. listen. >> i think you'll see somebody who's very passionate about the choice that our country faces. >> the president can change his style, he can change his tactics. he can't change his record. >> new polls this morning show the candidates are in a statistical dead heat. fighting for her life.

the pakistani teenager who was shot in the head by the taliban is headed out of the country for treatment. a live report on how she's doing right now. a death defying stunt. daredevil felix fareless baumgartner breaks the sound barrier as he plunges 24 miles to the ground and lives. the incredible new angles to show you this morning. joining us, former new york city mayor rudy giuliani is our guest. delaware governor jack markell. sheila bair. and senator bob casey will join us as well. monday, october 15th. monday, october 15th. starting point begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com morning. welcome, everybody. our team this morning, christa freeland. digital editor at thompson reuters. author of "plutocrats." margaret hoover is a former white house appointee in the bush administration. and richard, a writer at

bloomberg.com. >> and major giuliani introduced me to my husband. the reason my husband and i were married. >> it changes my entire line of questioning for this morning. we're talking about round two, of course, in the presidential debate. president barack obama, challenger mitt romney spending the weekend getting ready to face each other again. at this point it looks like it's anybody's race. new "washington post"/abc news poll has the president ahead by three points, well within the margin of error. new political poll shows that the president's ahead by one point which would make it a statistical dead heat. former major judy giuliani joins us this morning. romney campaign surrogate. debated romney himself in the 2008 campaign. nice to have you with us. >> nice to be with you. >> talk about how you think a version 2.0 is going to go? we've heard from the administration's side i think the word they've used is more engaged or aggressive. >> passionate. >> passionate was the word. >> it's a different debate. it's going to be very interesting to compare them. very, very different. mostly audience questions.

i don't know how -- how aggressive you can get in a debate like that. probably you're going to see a performance like joe biden. if that had been an audience thing they'd have wondered what he was laughing at. i think mitt romney will be very, very good. as you said, i debated mitt 11 times. i've watched him debate another 20 times. he's always good. sometimes he's great as he was last time. he's never bad. we know he's going to have a very steady to a very, very good performance. the president's more of a question. the last performance was really troubling. it's the reason i think these poms ha polls have gotten so close. his performance was a shock to me. i expected him to be much better. i thought biden's performance on reflection was very damaging to them. i think all that laughing created questions about what the heck's he laughing at? >> the campaign said to me when i asked about it the next morning, they said, listen. if all the republicans point out is laughing, clearly they had

nothing to criticize. >> there's plenty to criticize. the cover of benghazi. >> well -- >> can i finish? can i finish my statement before you get all upset? the reality is he said we didn't know they were asking for more security. where the heck was he? they were demanding more security. they were begging for more security. susan rice goes on television four days later. i was on cnn with her that morning. and says it was the spontaneous demonstration. i knew it wasn't. i knew it wasn't. i'm not part of the administration. i knew it wasn't the day after. she had to know it wasn't. they were saying it wasn't. the national security adviser said it was a terrorist plot. >> the white house now is basically saying the state department dropped the ball. the state department is looking and saying -- listen, i'm telling you how it goes. there's intel issues. >> who put susan rice on? the state department or political people? it was a political appearance. they're trying to run out the

clock. they can have the investigation. the investigation will be after the debate, after the election is over. what they're trying to do is cover up this scandal as much as possible. >> calling something a cover-up kind of takes it a further step, don't you think? >> no, it doesn't. wait a second. the statement was made including by the president of the united states that this was due to this terrible movie about mohammed. >> he actually didn't say that. the verbatim of what he said, he did not say it was something other than that. but it was mentioned, but he did not specifically say this was due to a movie. >> he mentioned -- >> why don't you pull all these transcripts for me. >> man, the defensive -- am i debating with the president's campaign? >> mr. major -- >> the defense of the president is overwhelming. >> i like to stick -- hold on a second. hold on a second. hold on a second. >> susan rice goes out there four days after. says this was a spontaneous demonstration. it clearly wasn't. there was information both in the state department and the white house that it wasn't.

there was no protest in advance. >> my question to you and what i'm debating -- >> this sounds like a cover-up. if this weren't a democratic president i think all you people would be going crazy. >> there are so many -- >> so much to this. it's so rich. >> the one thing i'm debating with you is just specifics. when you quote someone or you par phrase them the only thing i ask is that you get that accurate. that's all i ask. we're going to pull those. we're a little bit off. >> we're also entitled to interpret what the president is saying without this, like, massive defense of everything he says. >> just to sort of pivot us to the next subject, if i may, do you think foreign policy, including benghazi, is going to play a significant role in the election? because i would say my bias is to think actually it's really interesting for us to talk about. but i think people essentially are going to vote on the economy. >> you're right so far. i think it's moving a little. i think if, in fact, this becomes a question of the president's lack of leadership,

then it cuts into the economy as well. it's beginning to become like that. the white house -- the white house has been remarkably -- the white house has fumbled this -- whether it's a deliberate cover-up or they're making it look like a cover-up they have fumbled the ball four or five times here. several contradictions. excuse me if being the fact that i'm a republican, i don't give them as you do all the benefit of the doubt. >> mr. mayor, can i just ask you this, though? it seems to me that every time an american is killed in the line of duty, that it represents some kind of failure of intelligence. so what, though, do you think they're trying to cover up here? i think they've admitted that they didn't -- that intelligence originally was not correct. now to say that's an intentional cover-up i think is really stretching it. why would they try -- what would they be trying to cover-up? >> that's not accurate. the intelligence was correct. the next morning they had information this -- >> we do know that. they've essentially said -- >> you guys got the journal. we may never have found out

unless you took the journal. the white house says -- excuse me. >> you don't know what -- >> you guys had to go get the journal. the white house kind of accused you of stealing the journal. you got the journal of the ambassador that showed the ambassador was very, very concerned about security. i'm not sure they ever would have put that fact out until after the election was over. you've had to squeeze these facts. you, cbs and fox had to squeeze these facts out. this is supposed to be the most transparent administration in history? come on. give me a break. something funny's going on here. something's rotten in the state of denmark. >> i would completely agree with you there's been lots of dancing around this issue. my question was when you say something's a cover-up, that's a next step forward. let's move on. i want to play something you said back in february on cbs "face the nation." you were talking about mitt romney. listen. >> he has changed his position on virtually everything. he was a traditional, moderate

republican. strong on fiscal matters. conservative. strong on foreign policy. but basically socially moderate. and he changed all that. i am a moderate republican. that's what i am. so i'd be inclined to support someone like -- like mitt romney. but all those changes in positions give me -- give me pause. >> still give you pause? >> no. i resolved it. >> what was the resolving? >> i looked at president obama. i said four more years of president obama a disaster for our economy. a confused foreign policy. the middle east is falling apart. my goodness, mitt romney will be a lot better at that. >> do you think he's been shifting positions? >> look, neither one of the two men, including me when i ran, none of us are perfect. pluses, minuses. you take romney's pluses and minuses against obama's pluses and minuses. we got a chance for an economy that can really recover. we got a chance for a middle east policy that will make some sense. maybe we won't be having this confusion of, you know, first -- first where we want to keep --

we want to keep mubarak in power. then we change our position on mubarak. now it turns out "new york times" in the we're arming some of the jihadists in syria. maybe that's what we did in libya. we got a confusing approach to foreign policy. i think president romney would be a lot more focused. >> go back to your sound bite. have you in your own mind come to a conclusion on who is the real mitt romney? the moderate guy or the more conservative guy? margaret, i love you but i want to hear from the mayor. >> let him answer the question. then you can have a follow-up. >> i'll answer the question. i've come to the conclusion that mitt romney is informed by ideology. he's center right. he's basically a practical business person. and maybe some of my judgment of him comes from my own background. i came into politics in a different way than he did. came into politics from government service. he came into politics from being a business person. i think this is a practical problem solver. i don't think we're going to see an extreme idealog in the white

house if he becomes president of the united states. look at his background. everything else suggests he's going to be a problem solver. >> you had a final point. >> i think the mayor said it very well. i agree with exactly how he portrayed mitt romney. >> nice to have you with us. >> always a pleasure. we got to take a short break. cnn's candy crowley i should mention is going to be moderates that presidential town hall style debate tomorrow night. special coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. john berman, a look at some of the other stories making news today. good morning. >> following this story all morning. the pakistani teen shot in the head by the taliban should be landing in britain soon. 14-year-old malala yousuifzai was air lifted out of pakistan last night. her wounds are severe. the ptaliban tried to silence hr for good because she defied them. coming up on "starting point," we'll hear from cnn's

reza siayah. authorities have s-- 29-year-old seth mazaglia, martial arts -- pretrial is under way for the ill fated costa concordia. italian authorities have charged the captain with manslaughter. he is also accused of abandoning ship. surviving passengers will be in the courtroom. black box data from the ship's bridge is expected to be introduced this week. fareless felix baumgartner is going out on top of the world. stunning video of the austrian daredevil who rose to the edge of space 24 miles up and jumped. he plotted 830-plus miles per

hour. faster than the speed of sound. that has never been done outside a jet or spacecraft because it's crazy. earlier on "starting point" nik wallenda said baumgartner was always prepared. >> there are a lot of unknowns. you kind of just have to wing it. that's where that adrenaline and training and experience kicked in. he'd done over 2,500 jumps leading up to that. his military background helped him a lot, i'm sure. as you saw as soon as he hit the right altitude he did regain control. all that comes with experience. >> baumgartner says this was his last jump. quick while he's ahead. ahead like the detroit tigers feeling pretty good right now about world series chanlss. they are halfway there after beating the yankees at the bronx 3-0 to go up two games to none in the american league championship series. an embarrassing loss for the bombers. game three tomorrow night in detroit with tiger ace justin verlander on the mound. man, he's fwood. in the nlcs defending world

series champ st. louis cardinals threw first blood against the giants in the 6-4 win in game one. game two tonight in san francisco. cardinals always so tough in the playoffs. right now prlaying so well. >> john, thank you. ahead on "starting point" this morning president obama in intense debate prep mode. only taking a half hour break yesterday apparently. these are all indications, at least if you listen to his staff, he's going to come out swinging tomorrow night. what can we expect? we'll talk about that with obama supporter delaware governor jack markell joining us next. the rewrite and illustration redo of "night before christmas." our tough call, coming up.

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welcome back, everybody. president obama left his golf clubs at home when we went to a posh resort in williamsburg this weekend. he was there for one reason. preparing for the second debate against mitt romney. he took a half hour break. there were cameras rolling. it's a photo op. >> kind of cute. soauthentic. anyway, all indications if you listen to the staff members is that he's going to come out swinging or at least come out more aggressively than he did after he admitted he had a bad night in the first debate. jack markell, obama campaign supporter. nice to have you with us this morning. thank you for being with us. i'm going to throw up on the screen -- >> good morning. >> -- good morning to you. this new poll comes to us from our friends at politico. george washington university as well. battleground states, of the ten

battleground states which are colorado, oregon, ohio, nevada, michigan, wisconsin, you have mitt romney leading at 50%. president obama at 48%. when you see a poll like that how much bad news is that for you? >> i've been in two of those states in the last ten days. i was in ohio about ten days ago. i was in florida yesterday. i can tell you the enthusiasm on the part of the obama people was incredible. and the ground game was just really, really impressive. in ohio i visited a couple college campuses. these young students doing an amazing job registering people to vote. getting people to vote early. yesterday in florida at a couple field offices, at a house party, people raring to go. literally dozens and dozens and dozens at these aucoffices maki phone calls, going on campus. >> what change do you see in this debate, the second version, 2.0? will the president be aggressive? >> i think the real question -- i'm sure he will be.

i think the real question is which mitt romney shows up? is he going to be the one who said he governed as a severe conservative in massachusetts or will he be the etch and sketch guy he was the last time? i think obviously part of what the president will do is drive that home. to the extent that he is the severe conservative, i'm sure the president will reveal exactly how that's not consistent with the mainstream american values. to the extent he's the etch a sketch guy the president will show that's inconsistent with who mitt romney's been before. >> well, you know, i think we should discuss what we just heard from mayor giuliani who made some rather striking allegations this morning about an alleged cover-up. i, for one, think that the mayor stretched that. i'd like to hear what the governor has to say. did you hear mayor giuliani's comments about ben zambengbengh? >> i did. i also believe the

administration will do everything they can to get to the bottom of it. i also heard what mayor giuliani said back in february where he said mitt romney has changed his positions on everything. i think that's really the issue at hand here. again, you know, is it going to be the real conservative mitt romney that he says he is? or is it now going to be the guy who has moderated all of his positions? i think that will really be the issue here. >> governor, how can you convince the american people the administration really is doing everything it can to get to the bottom of what happened in benghazi when the story has changed so consistently from the very, very beginning? >> i think the american people understand that these are very complex situations. as you go on with the investigation day by day, additional information becomes available. as that information becomes available, they'll share it. i think, again, these are -- it's really complicated. people want to get at the bottom of it. nobody wants to get at the bottom of it more than the president and vice president. >> will we learn something new about benghazi from the president tomorrow? does he have a prepared

statement to clear things up? >> that, i don't know. i haven't had any conversations with him or his team as part of the debate preparation. i'm sure as information becomes available, they'll share it. i think the real point of the debate tomorrow, it's a town hall format, is make sure the president answers the questions. but also in addition to answering the questions that are posed to him, make sure that mitt romney answers the questions. let's figure out which mitt romney it actually is. >> andrew sullivan has written in the daily beast. he was so upset the other day in the last article we read. he really was completely over the top. here's what he wrote about what he needs to see from president obama personally. he said this. obama threw it all back in his supporters' faces, reacting to their enthusiasm and record denations with a performance so execrable? lazy? >> that's an andrew sullivan word. >> i was going to say. >> it's very british.

>> excuse me. we'll move on from that word. lazy, feckless, so vain it was almost a dare not to vote for him. what he has to do now is so nail these next two debates, so obliterate romney in both that he can claw his way back to victory. is the format of this debate even possible to do that? a town hall? how do you obliterate somebody in a town hall? >> look, i'm not sure obliteration is the key goal here. people make up their minds based on a whole set of observations during the campaign. this debate is certainly important. it's a great opportunity not only for the president, but for the president to focus the american people in on mitt romney. and, again, you know, how are -- what is it that mitt romney is saying today? how does that compare to what mitt romney said during the primary? these are two entirely different candidates. i think whether it's a town hall format, whether it's just a moderator format, it's a great opportunity for the president to dive into that.

>> governor, margaret hoover here. is it the president's strategy only to keep the focus on mitt romney and mitt romney's history or does he have plans to actually be specific about his own second agenda, second term agenda plans and to talk like my colleague john berman said about benghazi to give the american people confidence that there is something new and something different coming from what would be a second obama term? >> the president, to his credit, throughout this campaign has been specific. and for people who wonder what those plans might be, if you haven't had a chance to hear him talk about, they can go to barackobama.com/plans. he has laid it all out there. i really hope -- i think it's a good question. it's one of the things that i hope he has the chance to do. because i think the more the people dig in to his plans to promote more exports, to make sure there's more foreign direct investment here, to focus on the jobs act, he has been focused as focused can be on putting more people back to work. you started to see some of that with 31 straight months of job

growth. 5 million jobs. so on and so forth. but he's the first to know that we've got more to do. he's laid out specific plans for us to get there. i'm excited to hear more about that during the debate as well. >> governor jack markell joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us. >> thanks a lot. got to take a short break. back in a moment. es, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts

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there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans. taxamageddon is what will happen. parents, working people, students, these could revert back to previous smaller levels. for parents the child tax credit. lower income parents claim as much as $1,000 for each kid

under 17. the child and dependent care tax credit. there's the earned income tax credit. the government estimates it lifts millions of americans out of poverty each year. there's a college tax credit for lower income families that can claim up to $3,500 in college expenses each year for four years. these tax hikes like this will hit 88% of americans according to the tax policy center, raising their taxes on average $3,500. senators have begun to talk about beginning to talk about a framework for fixing this. deficit negotiators expect a frenzy in the lame duck session of congress. >> they've begun to talk about beginning to talk about it? >> about the framework. >> the principles they would agree on before they came to talk about it. interesting. >> we'll hope all of that talking will eventually lead to something actually being done. when you look at all of those tax credits you can see it's a lot of people. 88% of americans would be affected by what happens on

january 1st. >> the cbo says it would throw the country back into recession affirmatively. >> it would certainly help our deficit and debt position. >> it certainly would if you pay it off. at the cost of paying it off. what cost? >> good news, bad point. still ahead on "starting point," more than 200 people now affected with that deadly meningitis outbreak. also, "saturday night live" feasting on the fodder from the vp debate. listen. >> a bunch of malarkey? what does that mean? >> it's irish. >> no, no, no. irish is i come over there and smack that dumb look off your face. >> more highlights of that coming up. also, a new version of the iconic story "twas the night before christmas." it's been rewritten. in this one santa's not smoking. hmm. we're going to talk about whether or not you can even do that. back in a moment. me mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy.

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morning. welcome. you're watching "starting point." let's get right to john berman for a look at some of the stories making news. this is a story we've been following all morning. the 14-year-old pakistani girl shot in the head by the taliban should be landing in britain soon. malala yousafzai's wounds are severe. the taliban tried to kill her because she publicly defied them by promoting education for girls. pakistanis, many of them outraged by the attack. cnn's reza sayah has been covering this story from the beginning. good morning, reza. >> good morning, john. when an air ambulance landed here in islamabad last night we thought there would be a possibility for malala to be air lifted out of here.

i don't think a lot of people expected it to happen this weekend. it did this morning, 9:00 a.m. malala yousafzai took off from islamabad. make a quick stop in abudabi, there pakistan's ambassador to the uae briefly saw her. described her as still unconscious. this is a roughly 11, 12-hour trip. i think with that stopover in abudabi you can expect her to land in england, birmingham, england, sometime in the next two or four hours. the military was overseeing her care here while she was in pakistan. they described this as a window of opportunity to get her to this facility that specializes in treating children with severe injuries. of course, she's got damage to her skull. possible neurological damage. her mother is with her. her father and little brother and many, many people at this hour praying for her all over the world, john. >> thank you, reza. reza sayah in islamabad. we hope this means good things for her treatment. 35 minutes after the hour.

contaminated pain injections have now made 205 people sick. 203 of them infected with fungal meningit meningitis. the other two have peripheral joint infection. it's killed 15 people. 14 states reporting cases with tennessee, michigan and virginia the hardest hit. it has been 50 years since the cuban missile crisis when the u.s. was on the brink of nuclear war with the soviet union. to mark tan ver sar hundreds of private and confidential documents held at the jfk presidential library are going online. they include memos between president kennedy and his brother then attorney general robert f. kennedy during the height of the crisis. the pack is back. green bay quarterback aaron rodgers tossing a career high six touchdown passes last night. 42-24. the houstons' very first loss of the season. only one unbeaten team remains. it is the atlanta falcons.

55-yard field goal by matt bryant. the falcons now 6-0. president obama and mitt romney will be center stage again tomorrow night. "saturday night live" getting the last laugh from the biden/romney debate. >> first of all, i want to thank senator college for hosting us this eve zblninevening. >> oh, boy, here we go. >> four years ago president obama made a promise. [ laughing ]. >> that he would bring down unemployment below 6%. >> all right, let's go. >> all right. that's funny. this you may not find so funny. a new smoke-free version of "twas the night before christmas" is getting some holiday jeers. a visit from st. nicolas, the jolly old elf, kicks his pipe habit cold turkey. author and anti-smoking author edited out two versions about smoking. some critics say the rewrite is too pc including the president of a bearded santa group. he responded by saying, quote,

leave my story alone. this change is not officially sanctioned by the north pole. what are those verses? the famous verses. >> the stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth. and the smoke encircled his head like a wreath. a rather beautiful image which i think our children should get to hear. >> are you allowed to -- >> i don't think they equate it to nicotine and lung cancer. >> there was a controversy over santa's weight. was santa too fat? does a fat santa send a bad message? >> is it christmas already? >> but it is a thing that exists that someone wrote. it's called "twas the night before christmas." how do you edit around it? >> "the new york post" did this article about it sort of tongue in cheek. here's what they'll do next. a moratorium on elf made toys. it's child labor. vertically challenged drummer person. and melty, the global warming

slash -- still ahead on "starting point," he was a political wild card. decades as a republican and switching to the democratic party. the life and impact of senator arlen specter. that's up next. anncr: every president inherits challenges. few have faced so many. four years later... our enemies have been brought to justice. our heroes are coming home. assembly lines are humming again. there are still challenges to meet. children to educate.

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senator arlen specter will be laid to rest tomorrow. the former senator died yesterday from nonhodgkin's lymphoma which is cancer of the white blood cells. he was 82 years old. he came into prominence in the mid-'60s with his involvement in the warren commission while he was investigating the assassination of president kennedy. after his election in 1980 he was involved in contentious supreme court hearings. famously switched from the republican party to the democratic party in 2009. brings us to senator bob casey,

democrat from pennsylvania. chairman of the joint economic committee. served with arlen specter between 2007 and 2010. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us. >> thanks, soledad. >> why don't you start by telling us a little bit about the arlen specter you knew personally as opposed to that we knew sort of by watching what was happening in the senate. >> he was great to work with. i came in in 2007, january of 2007 as a democrat. one of the first things he said to me in the transition right after the election was that it was important for us to try to work together where we could. and he also said, and this is interesting. he said, it's important for people to see us working together. at the time it didn't mean that much. i thought it was just something he was saying by way of introduction. but all these years later with all the partisanship, it has much greater meaning today. >> is it possible to go back to that kind of a collaborative, working across party lines approach in the senate? or is american politics just

fundamentally changed and broken? >> no, i think we can. i think you can still establish personal relationships so that you can work together. but we've got a long way to go. we need a lot more of that bipartisanship. but he worked at it his whole life. >> senator -- >> i was, when i served with him, was at the end of his life, of course. but he was -- he was a remarkable figure. so capable, but also so willing to work with others in the best interest of our commonwealth and our country. >> senator, i was just going to ask you, he really struggled, right, with changing parties and what that meant, and he had a lot of friends in both parties? >> he did. he had established friendships in both. i think he was particularly frustrated with the -- the partisanship of washington. and he felt he could better serve the state by changing parties. but that was a tough decision. i knew he was doing it because he was thinking how he could best serve pennsylvania.

>> not -- not many senators at the end of their life become stand-up comics. >> i was going to ask that same exact thing. >> stand-up comic. pretty remarkable. what other anecdotes can you tell us about arlen specter? >> well, he had a great sense of humor. sometimes someone who's that capable and that serious and that determined, you can forget the fact that they're -- that they have a sense of humor. and he did. not only as he exhibited as a stand-up comic, but also just in the interactions we would have. he would tell stories about campaigns and politics, and he was -- he was a delight to be around, especially on the floor when you could get him a couple of minutes to have him tell a war story or two. >> senator bob casey joining us this morning remembering arlen specter. nice to see you, sir. thank you for talking with us and sharing your stories. we appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point" are the policies of the federal reserve hurting other nations? chairman ben bernanke on the defensive this morning. the former chair of the fdic sheila bair is going to be our guest. that's coming up next. questions?

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welcome back, everybody. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke is firing back at critics who say u.s. monetary policy is hurting. emerging nations like brazil. in a speec yesterday in tokyo bernanke directly addressed detractors. and he said this. this policy not only helps strengthen the u.s. economic recovery but by boosting u.s. spending and growth it has the effect of helping support the global economy as well. on friday brazil's minister of finance called the fed's policy of buying bonds to lower interest rates selfish. joining us this morning to talk about that is former chair of the fdic and author of a new book calmed "bull by the horns" sheila bair. nice to have you with us. walk us through.

when he made his response, bernanke didn't actually name names. he didn't say brazil. he didn't say china. he didn't say russia. but those are really those emerging countries -- >> emerging countries that are having some issues with this. look, i've said it before. i think ben is heroic in trying to help our economic recovery through monetary policy, but i don't think it works. this whole debate underscores the problem. the money doesn't stay here. it doesn't go into domestic lending that helps the economy. it goes overseas where it can get higher returns in these developing countries. that creates problems for them. i wish i could say that i agree with him, that by another round of quantitytive easing is going to help the economy here and we're going to buy more of their goods. there's just no evidence it's working anymore. >> what about his point that some of these countries, china in particular, he didn't say china, everyone is assuming he meant china. >> look, i would love to see our export market increase.

theoretically if we can depreciate our currency against theirs it should help our export market. they control the value of our currency through their own central bank activities. i would prefer congress deal with this problem. make the tax cut, for one. get corporate tax rates down. clean up the tax code. there are things on the fiscal policy side that will help our manufacturing sector and export capacity to build more jobs and have a more export driven market that are going to be a lot more effective than monetary policy. by continuing to do this i think he's letting congress off the hook. it's really their job. >> do you think the fed has overplayed its hands? >> i do. they created an expectation. look, it's really -- income inequality has gotten worse here. quantitative eating ineasing a of the day helps people who own financial assets. helping the real economy, creating jobs, the evidence isn't there anymore. >> is there another alternative?

>> fiscal policy, yes. >> they're not doing anything. >> that's why he's doing this. the risks of what he's doing are much greater than the small benefit. >> what are the risks? >> inflation for one thing. driving asset bubbles in developing countries is another. at some point he's going to have to get out of this. the longer they keep interest rates near zero, the more those low yielding assets build on bank balance sheets. when interest rates do start to rise, banks fund with deposits. the longer he keeps this up, the more low yielding assets on a bank balance sheet. interest rates are going to go up. you're going to have the problem they had during the -- the interest rates they have to pay to keep the deposits is going to be less favorable to low yielding assets on the books. >> i want to go back to the inflation point. i can see sort of mathematically how maybe we should be worried about it. but realistically with the u.s. economy so weak, europe even weaker, emerging markets not

really go go right now, is inflation today's problem? >> in the near term, no. but in the longer term we're still pumping all this liquidity in the system. it's sitting there on the sidelines there. once it's unleashed we could have an inflation problem. if it's just sitting there while keep piling more and more money into a system that's awash with cash already. when it is unleashed you are going to have a problem. the typical tool is to raise interest rates. they're going to have a problem with the banking sector when they do that. >> do you think overall things are headed in the right direction? are things getting better? >> housing market, for example? >> the housing market, delinquencies and defaults are still at elevated levels. there was a bump in delinquency rates in the mortgage bankers report. everything's marginally improving. there's still so many unknowns. there's a lot of shadow inventory that hasn't come on to the market yet. we don't know. the fed is certainly helping the

refinancing activity. that's giving them fees. that helps -- that was the main driver for both chase and wells fargo. that's helping. it's helping homeowners a bit. because they can free up some cash by getting lower interest rates. as a lot of media outlets have reported, they're not getting the full benefit of the lower rates. banks are pocketing, too. that is helping. i will give the fed that. again, that's not sustainable. you can only take interest rates so low, only so much refinancing activity. these aren't originations for new home purchases. these are refis. >> can i ask you a question about jack welch? i'm dying to get your insight on this. you know after the numbers came out the tweet was this. october -- 5th of october. unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate so change numbers. >> no. well, i think, you know, the bls, bureau of labor statistics,

is directed by a pure staff. they're religious about keeping this stuff insullated from political influence. you're going to see that number going -- changing a lot. over time they align. >> i'm asking about jack welch, though. >> sorry. i think the broader point, he kind of cleaned it up in the "wall street journal." there are flaws in the way this information is reported. >> which is not a surprise. >> it could be misleading. there wasn't any intentional manipulation. >> the president does not know those numbers until the morning of of. i worked at the labor department for a while. nobody knows those numbers. >> it's so sad. people are so scynical about government. you can trust the bls. >> the last people you can trust absolutely, right? the bureau of labor and statistics! >> that's it. nice to have you with us this morning. >> i want to plug the book.

>> it's a great book as well. >> "bull by the horns" is the name of the book. end point is up next. stay with us. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger.

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one person killed, seven hurt in a hostage situation that took place at a mobile home in greer, south carolina. two of the injured are sheriff's deputies. we're told their injuries are not life threatening. the suspect is in custody. he has not been hurt. police have not identified the victim at this point. we have just enough time to -- obviously we'll continue to update you on this story as the day moves forward. we'll have more information. we have just enough time to get to one final end point. who wants to take it. >> plutocrats, do it. >> my book is published today. rising income inequality in the world, in the united states. >> who's to blame for -- >> globalization and techgy